Behind the Screen
by Kibou32
Summary: Sasuke denies that he feels for Naruto. When they go to college, Naruto begins to get out of his shy cocoon. Sasuke little by little realizes that he is about to loose his true love. UkeNaru/SemeSasu. HIATUS


Behind the Screen

By: Kibou32

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: AU Naruto is the local pretty boy. His friend Sasuke is the most popular boy in school, so that when he decides to go to college, he chooses the most prestigious university. Naruto, who is hopelessly in love with his friend, pulls all stops on hoping that things won't change when he decides to follow him. Except, university is another different ball game and Naruto faces the worst when concerning his friend.

– Part One –

He became friends with Uchiha Sasuke when they were in kinder garden, and he made the effort to not be shy. It was his greatest fault; he was the shyest boy you'd ever meet. At first Sasuke had thought that he was like the others who pursued him for his looks or his money, but when Sasuke discovered that he was just a lonely boy like himself, they instantly became inseparable.

His mother loved to dress him up as a girl so much, most of his classmates thought of him like that up until their first gym class. Then they made fun of him wearing girlish clothes and his delicate features. As he grew up, he knew that he'd never be able to be the boy his father had hoped for, but Minato was cool with it anyhow. Yet, even though his father gave him full support of who he was; Naruto desired something better. He desired to stop being the local pretty boy and when his best friend – and ongoing crush – said he was moving out of state to go to college, Naruto decided to follow his friend's choice. Find a fresh start out of the town that mocked him so much.

:-:

Sasuke decided that he liked the campus. He liked the girls even more – except a strawberry blond who gave Naruto hell thinking the boy was a girl – here than the ones from high school. He hoped he could score some of those ladies soon. Maybe he'd get Naruto a date too… it wasn't that he didn't know of his friend's sexual orientation, but… he was sure that if Naruto just gave it a try – a girl who wasn't a bitch like those in high school – and ate some pussy, he would like it. Then, Sasuke would have it made.

--

Naruto made his bed and sighed unhappily. Only the first day here, and he had already encountered problems. That strawberry blond girl named Haruno Sakura seemed to hate him on first sight. He was sure it was because he was prettier than her, as a bloke lounging in one of the benches near the parking lot had muttered when he tried to escape the girl's hitting fists, by running away from her. It was true he wasn't as strong and broad shouldered as his best friend, but he was still the fastest one from where he came from.

He had blushed deeply remembering the look that bloke had gave him due to that. He had heard insults, mocking him mostly for his looks, his mannerisms, etc. when he was in high school. Due to his mom's fervent want that he be a girl… well… he had been dressed and paraded as a girl from the moment he was out of his mother's womb. Except the few features like his blond hair and impossibly blue eyes due to genetics coming from his father, he looked nothing like the handsome man. His mother assured him that one day the girls would die to date him, but in truth; he wasn't so sure he would like it. Girls were scary, in his opinion. Sasuke said that was because he was still a virgin. He didn't believe that losing his virginity would make him appreciate the female form even more.

At that moment, he wished his friend would look at him at least once. No luck there. Sasuke was purely heterosexual. Perhaps if he _did _lose his virginity to a girl? He sighed and lay down on his bed deciding to let it be.

--

The strawberry blond girl was a slut, Sasuke was sure. There was no way – no matter how handsome he was – that a girl would suck him off the minute they met alone. She gave him her number, but he doubted he'd ever call her. He liked easy girls when he was urgent for a quickie, but he rather liked the chase better than a slut.

He narrowed his eyes in contemplation. Had there been any girl he had ever met yet that hadn't fallen to bed with him? No, there hadn't been any girl who he hadn't been able to conquer. Oh… wait, there was one over there, was that a blond?

He made his way towards the girl, but by the time he made it to where the girl was, she was gone. He cursed and decided to call it a night.

--

When he stumbled into his room, he saw that Naruto had – nicely enough – prepared his bed the way he liked it. He thanked God for small mercies. As he drunkenly tried to take his clothes off without alerting the blond of the time, he checked his friend out. The moon's glare made those soft lips of Naruto's look terribly inviting. He shook his head and wondered what was wrong with him. He decided it had to be the liquor and the up and coming hangover.

Still… the idea nestled in his mind. Naruto's lips opened up a bit; timidly beginning to lick his dick off… was that a dream or a nightmare? Sasuke wasn't sure which he wanted it to be.

--

Classes started and Sasuke was surprised that Naruto was in none of his classes. He tried to check the smaller boy's schedule and was shocked when he saw a couple of art classes. He hadn't been aware his friend liked art. He thought about it for a second, knowing he had seen not one bit of his friend for weeks since they came over to the university and said to himself he'd come in to buy Naruto some ramen. It was his best friend's favorite food.

He went to his class hoping to find Naruto and was shocked to the core when he saw a redheaded boy in a – in his opinion at least – very seductive pose posing completely naked for Naruto's advanced drawing class.

He looked closely and found that the redhead's sex was _almost_ dangling right in front of Naruto's eyes. He looked at his friend and found him blushing cutely. The redhead seemed bored with the whole thing, but he was sure there was interest sparking behind those green eyes when it concerned the boy in front of him. Sasuke stood there looking at the interaction and irrationally hoping Naruto would never look at the redhead like the young man was looking at him. Naruto's shy smiles and shy glances belonged to him and no one else. Consciously, he didn't dare identify why this was so.

---

Gaara was sure that the blond artist was going to self-combust. A virgin. Who would've thought?

He smiled – a little bit – and caught the blond's eye. The young man gasped soundlessly and Gaara could feel his sex twitch in interest. The blond seemed to notice and blushed some more, his soft pink lips widened a bit and Gaara had to hold the groan in, because the picture the artist was portraying was too damn hot.

When class was over, he walked in his boxers to the boy from the back, hoping to see what had he drawn. He was shocked to see himself looking like a black and white picture, an exact replication of himself in real life.

"You draw quite well." – He complimented.

The boy sitting on one of the chairs smiled and said thank you turning around to see who had complimented his work. The moment those clear blue eyes found his own green, Naruto blushed a fierce tomato red and stuttered.

"Um…" – but before he could say something else a deep voice called from behind.

"Oi. Dobe… I'm here to invite you lunch."

Gaara couldn't believe the boy lighted up as if he had been caught with his hand inside his pants. He turned to see his competition and narrowed his eyes as he recognized him. His sister had briefly told him about the new heartthrob. This young man with dark eyes and dark hair was the dangerous type to the tee, except… except he didn't seem that heterosexual much. Those dark orbs were promising pain to him if he so much as dared as to take the young blond from him. Protective much? Oh, but that made the conquest of one so pure so deliciously challenging. Gaara narrowed his eyes at the brooding one and quirked a red eyebrow as if saying 'I'm ready for the challenge if you are'.

:-:

Naruto couldn't understand why his friend had come looking for him. He was a little cheery that he had taken the time to do so, but he was a bit worried because Sasuke looked like he was ready to kill someone. He wondered what had he done to make his friend so angry.

"Um… Sasuke?" – He called hesitantly.

"What?" – Naruto flinched and looked at his lap. He could feel the tears gathering in the back of his eyes and closed them, wondering why whenever Sasuke treated him like that, did he feel like being a pussy and cry.

There was a silence and then Sasuke exhaled heavily.

"I'm not mad at you." – But in his head he wondered if he wasn't beginning to see a pattern here. Whenever he was a jerk to Naruto, if he was especially vicious to his blond friend, the young man would flinch and he'd immediately recapitulate.

Internally, he knew that Naruto had him wrapped around his little tan finger; but outside where he stubbornly kept the thought that he liked girls and nothing was going to change that anytime soon, he denied that he had already connected the dots.

"Oh, ok. I was quite glad to see you, did something happen?" – Naruto said with a bounce in his steps.

Sasuke smiled at his friend inside his head, but on the outside he snorted.

"Nothing happened. Does something have to happen for me to go out for lunch with my best friend?" – He asked.

Naruto ducked his head a bit and blushed as he said: "No."

Sasuke rapped him in the head – gently – and Naruto cried out saying he was going to kill him. They chased each other all the way to the Ramen Bar, horsing around and making a nuisance of them.

Three pairs of green eyes stared after them, two in bemusement and one in seething anger.

--

Temari met her brother for lunch at a small café not too far from the Ramen Bar Sasuke had taken Naruto to eat. She was a magnificent woman who was very picky on whom she selected to sleep with. And many men around campus desired her, she had the perfect hour-glass figure that many girls wanted to die for and she was taller than the usual Japanese women, which made her almost seem like a model. Her long blond hair was usually tied in a ponytail to her side, making her seem – in a way – to be coy and shy. Those who knew her best knew that she wasn't the least bit shy. She had green eyes like her youngest brother and an insatiable thirst for… wait for it… sex. Yes, poor _Temari_-_chan_ was addicted to sex. Which was why, she was so picky.

In that respect her brother Gaara was of the same respect, although Gaara wasn't as addicted to sex as his sister was. He had luscious short red hair and deep green eyes. He was at least two inches _shorter_ than his sister, but he was tall enough that many were intimidated by his stature, even though he wasn't as bulky as other guys were.

Both siblings were considered quite the catch at the university campus and there were rumors here and there about them and their 'conquests'. Suffice it to say that when someone caught their eye, that person was noteworthy enough to get out of the norm, people around campus and even the town surrounding it, were annoying in their endeavors when trying to catch their attention.

The difference between the two siblings was that, whereas Temari impressed on those who recently met her that she had quite of an easy-going disposition and calm personality; she wasn't. Gaara was of the opposite, everyone who ever met him always thought he was fury personified, one would think that one glare of those deep green eyes and you'd spontaneously self-combust. He was actually calmer that he seemed to portray.

"So… who was that blond guy you were staring at so intensely?" – She asked as she dug into her Caesar's salad with gusto, never be said that she didn't like to eat well.

"A boy from the advanced art class, I was sitting directly in front of. He looked so cute blushing at my naked form. You know nudes aren't really supposed to show the sex, but the teacher… Shiranui Genma – I think that's his name – is such a pervert that he said he'd take art to the extreme. I don't mind posing naked, but that boy was so shocked that he could've fainted if I so much as got aroused in his presence. But other than that, he was pretty good at what he drew of me." – He said looking pensive at the end whilst trying not to get annoyed that they hadn't brought his food yet.

"Really? A virgin in Shiranui-sensei's class? That's quite a noble idea." – She exclaimed as she sipped some of her orange juice.

"Yes. Really." – He noticed that the help had finally managed to finish making his food and the waiter was serving him at the minute he spoke.

Temari watched amused as Gaara glared at the waiter and watched the poor young man – who had been trying to impress her – sweat when faced with Gaara's poor disposition.

"And the black haired one who was attached to the blond one, who was he?"

"I thought you already knew of him. Since you pointed him out to me the other day at the party."

Temari looked pensive as she tried to remember and then giggled a bit when she remembered.

"Oh… it's the guy I told you were making eyes at me? Yeah, I heard from Ino that Sakura was making google eyes at the young man in question. Ino seemed disgusted by the fervent attention she was giving the guy. He's a freshman and yet he was getting a blowjob from her!"

"Oh, that's nasty." – Gaara said as he made a face before taking a drink of his New York Ice Tea.

"Oh shut up! Anyhow, I thought that freshman was heterosexual, not homosexual." – She commented with a look towards her brother.

"I don't think he's either, maybe he's asexual or in denial. I don't know which one is worst. But the thing that galls me is that he seems either oblivious of the blonde's feelings or that he's ignoring them in hopes that 'it'll pass'." – He said making quoting signs when he finished.

Temari smiled at her brother's antics.

"Are you going to take the virgin for a ride or just a tiny test drive?" – She asked mildly picking her nails while she waited for her desert having already finished her salad.

Gaara thought about it for a second before saying…

"I'm not sure. I'll have to get to know more about him first, then decide." – He said as he stared out the window of the café of where they sat at.

:-:

Gaara met Naruto again in Art class. This time, the model was still life and Naruto was drawing and painting to his heart's content. He came up behind him again to see his work and then said in a low voice…

"You should paint the apples red."

Naruto started and streak a blue line across a lemon. He cursed and immediately began dabbing at it with a napkin hoping to fix the damage. Gaara watched the blond's long and thin fingers thinking that those looked more like a woman's hands rather than a man's. Perhaps, back in the blond's hometown he was considered to be the local pretty boy. That was a shame in his mind.

He sat on one empty chair next to the blond's and looked at him. He looked at how the boy hung his tongue out to the left side of his mouth in concentration with what he was doing. He saw how he was so careful and so perfect in trying to keep the smudge out.

"What's your name, angel?" – He asked in a low voice. He was pleasantly surprised to be given another blush.

"I'm- I'm not an angel." – Naruto stuttered.

"Well I'll be calling you angel until you tell me your name. So what is it?"

Naruto blushed and mumbled out his name. Namikaze U. Naruto. Gaara enjoyed the blush even more now.

"I think I'll keep calling you angel anyhow. Angel fits you better." – He drawled and leaned forward reaching out to grab his chin.

Naruto flushed the brightest red as of yet.

"Please…" – He tried to say 'please let me go', but found he couldn't find the strength to do so and instead finished his plea with a whimper.

Naruto knew then that he had never felt so dizzy and hot in his whole life like he was feeling now.

Then the teacher said to leave the paintings on the stools and that he'd see them the next day.

Naruto tried to escape Gaara and couldn't. Gaara himself couldn't let go of the blond even though he didn't want to anyway. He leaned in and kissed the shocked boy on the lips. It was a close-mouthed kiss, but it was the sweetest kiss Gaara had given a guy.

"My name is Sabakuno Gaara. Now since I almost ruined your painting, I'm taking you out for lunch."

Naruto wanted to say he couldn't, but found his tongue wouldn't cooperate.

:-:

When Naruto made it back to their dormitory, he still was flushed and felt even dizzier. He was sure this was the first time that a man had touched him like that. He took his clothes off and laid on his bed in his underwear. Suddenly he felt too hot, but not hot enough to get a shower. And as he fell asleep on his bed, he could feel the desire for something more. What it was, he couldn't say; but the want was there.

:-:

Sasuke arrived to his dorm room just an hour after Naruto reached it. He turned on the light and gasped. In the time Naruto had fallen asleep; he had shed his underwear and was nude on his bed. His sex was up and leaking, and Sasuke vaguely realized that he was completely hairless. He knew his friend didn't shave ever, so it meant that he was always hairless. And that made it worst, because the image of him aroused in his sleep was so lewd that it had him grasping the door fearing for his sanity. He took in the tousled blond hair and the… he couldn't stop his eyes from returning to seeing Naruto's penis looking so red and straining, but even more… for some reason Sasuke found it – not disgusting – but completely alluring, sexy, and so pretty.

Without even noticing what he was doing, he crossed the room to his roommate's bed and knelt on the floor besides it. He trailed a finger over Naruto's penis from base to head and felt hungry. Really hungry. When he pressed his finger on Naruto's urine opening, he felt Naruto's whole body tremble. Naruto was innocent desire and Sasuke so wanted to…

He snapped out of it when he realized he was holding his friend's sex in his grasp. Naruto had flushed and was silently asking for more with the movement of his hips. He wrenched his hand away and ran to the showers feeling a little weird by this lust that had consumed him.

:-:

The next day, Naruto woke up feeling refreshed although he was puzzled as to how he ended up being naked underneath his covers. Sasuke wasn't even there and for that Naruto was grateful. He didn't want Sasuke to tease him about it, or the fact that he was hairless except for the hair on top of his head.

When he went to his only non-art class, which was Speech 101; he was shocked to see the young man he had seen when he first got on campus. He was lounging next to another guy – a jock probably – with some type of red war paint on his cheeks, two inverted triangles, and the vertices to the bottom instead of upwards.

He looked for an empty seat and discovered that he'd have to sit with some other guy who looked really feral and had taken out his long tongue out to caress his own cheek; he looked like a snake readying to bite his prey. Naruto immediately realized that _he _was the prey and flushed prettily.

"Mendokusei. Doku, leave the newbie alone."

Naruto looked relieved and just found a seat in the dead center of the whole class.

"Later man, I have football practice and I don't want to be late." – called the guy with the tattoos on his cheeks and left the room.

Naruto waited and waited for what must have been three hours, but in reality was only twenty minutes before deciding their class's teacher wasn't going to show. He sighed and wondered why on earth he had to take this class. He was about to leave the room, where only he and the lazy one were left, Doku had left five minutes into the hour looking decidedly bored with life; when the lazy one opened his eyes and leveled him in his place with a stare.

"Don't leave yet. Kakashi-sensei is usually forty to fifty minutes late." – He said with an almost bored tone and Naruto wondered why he had even bothered to speak.

"Ah. But I have a class after this one and I…" – He stopped talking for a minute trying to decide what to do.

The lazy one sat up in his chair, slouched a bit and yawned before shrugging a bit and said…

"I'm Nara Shikamaru. You?"

Naruto looked at the young man before him quietly, starting when he realized he had been caught staring and bowed a bit before saying his name.

"Let me call a friend to see if our sensei is coming or not."

Naruto nodded in agreement and watched as he spoke with someone on the phone. When he stopped, he seemed to frown at the phone and then sigh as if being put upon by the whole issue. But he was calm and friendly when he said that the teacher wasn't coming today.

Naruto wilted at the thought. He had chosen this class because it gave him something to do before his art class on Fridays. Now with virtually nothing to do, he was at a loss as to what to do with himself.

"So what are you going to do now, Naruto-san?" – He heard Shikamaru ask him.

He shrugged and said what came to mind first, which was that he'd go to the library and read a book or something. Shikamaru shook his head and told him they should go get some coffee.

Naruto missed his first class that day.

:-:

Sasuke found that Naruto was seeing and making new friends rather quickly. When he saw, one of his new friends conversing with Naruto, he was angry. He stormed his way over to them and said…

"Hey!" – Sasuke saw Shikamaru look up.

Shikamaru looked at him with narrowed dark brown eyes and tilted his head to the side thinking that perhaps Sasuke was surely looking too angry to be himself. Was it because he was sitting there with his hand around Naruto's waist as he had held him – slightly – to keep from tumbling down on to the floor due to the Irish coffee his one true nemesis had slipped in instead of the regular Mocha the blond had asked for? Shikamaru liked the blond boy in front of him, but wasn't about to hurt him. His innocence was sort of refreshing to him and he was sure that he'd be protecting that innocence for as long as the blond would let him.

"I didn't know you two knew each other?" – Naruto said with a confused frown on his pretty face.

Sasuke did a double-take. This was the very first time he had seen Naruto this flushed in the middle of the day.

"Are you drunk?" – He said in a surprised whisper, wondering if Naruto had any knowledge of how he looked at the minute.

Naruto shook his head no. Sasuke began to get angry again and asked Shikamaru what was truly going on at the second.

"Naruto-san here is in my Speech 101 class. My troublesome mother decreed that this semester I should really take my studies seriously. So I am. We came here for coffee, but the stupid brunette on the bar is a troublesome bitch known as Kin and she decided to spike his coffee with all she had – apparently. So now, Naruto-san is 'happy'." – Shikamaru explained in a nonchalant sort of tone of voice.

Naruto at that moment giggled. Both Sasuke and Shikamaru knew then that this could turn out to be very troublesome. Shikamaru knew this more so because this was an alternative life-style coffee bar. They served some damn good coffee – most of the time – and was quite popular with the university lads. Shikamaru knew the owner quite well, so he had brought Naruto over saying that the coffee was quite good. He hadn't known he'd see one of his ex-conquests at the other side of the bar. He sighed as many older males swung – discreetly of course – to look at the spectacle that Naruto was making of himself.

Shikamaru bowed a little and said: "Sumimasen, my friend didn't know his drink was spiked. Sumimasen."

Sasuke hooked an arm around Naruto's slim waist and put his arm around his shoulders. Shikamaru grabbed Naruto's bag and followed after Sasuke with an air of doom hanging over his shoulder. Kin smiled in satisfaction at seeing them leave. Her smile vanished when Shikamaru turned as he was closing the door of the establishment as if he left. His eyes were almost black and his tight smile showed something that Kin knew very well to fear. He was promising retribution and wasn't taking no for an answer. She swallowed.

:-:

Sasuke sat Naruto on his own bed. Shikamaru looked at the blatant differences and knew that the blond young man was the one who liked things to look pristine clean and in order, he was slightly amazed that the young blond was the one instead of Sasuke who he had thought had anal retentive problems and not of the physical type. Unless, you counted denial which Shikamaru could see was quite obvious.

Naruto hadn't fallen asleep like either of them had expected, but Sasuke was kind of surprised to know – now – that his friend was the friendly drunken type. And this was the result of just one tall mug of Irish coffee? Either he needed to ascertain that Naruto would never drink again for as long as he lived, or that his friend built immunity to alcohol pretty fast. Otherwise, someone else would take advantage of his 'friendliness' when drunk and see where that could take him. Naruto was his best friend, but Sasuke was Naruto's guardian. Seeing as he was much more open with the world than his shy counterpart, Naruto's father had asked him to take care of his little boy at college. And he would do so, come what may.

:-:

Shikamaru was gentle when he pushed Naruto's hands away from his side. The young blond was clearly bordering on sleepy at the moment, but Shikamaru didn't care. Sasuke had gone to get his friend a glass of water so that when Naruto woke up, he wouldn't have the hangover of the century. Shikamaru looked around the room and sighed.

"Ne… is it hot in here or what?" – Naruto said giggling a bit as he took off his t-shirt. Shikamaru turned to look at him and felt a slight flush overcome him.

Naruto had taken off his shirt and the flushed look that the small consumption of alcohol had given him was working wonders for Shikamaru's libido. The perfect submissive was alive in the form of Namikaze Naruto standing in the middle of the room staring right at him.

Thankfully, Shikamaru was permitted the right to look around for something to occupy his mind with. He found that something in a sketch of the one person he hadn't seen in over a year. Sabakuno Gaara.

"Gaara…" – He said in a whisper. Naruto didn't notice though.

"You drew Gaara as he is." – Shikamaru said again and narrowed his eyes in thought. Namikaze Naruto was special, he acknowledged then.

It was at that time that when he scrawled his number, at one of the margins of the sketch; that he thought of his one true friend… and decided to leave this young man her card. Not a moment too soon, for Sasuke entered the room with a big bottle of water.

"Here, drink this Naruto." – He said calmly steadily watching his blond friend drink all that he could and more of the glass.

Sasuke turned around to look at Shikamaru and was shocked by the intensity in those eyes of his.

"Sasuke-san… you are _this _close to losing something truly special. Tell Naruto-san to give me a call when he's sober again. Does he have a cell phone number I can reach him if he forgets to call me?"

Sasuke was a bit nonplussed at what the young man before him had suggested, but he shrugged inwardly before saying…

"Naruto doesn't own a cell phone."

Shikamaru smirked and said…

"Well we'll just have to get him one then, won't we?" – Then he nodded goodnight and left.

:-:

Naruto woke with the mother of all hangovers. To think that only drinking one glass – not mug – of Irish coffee had him this way… he wondered if his father knew his son was such a lightweight. He deemed it unimportant as he settled to look for his slippers so that he'd go and take a shower first. It was Saturday, but Naruto had a purpose for this Saturday and that was to look around campus. He then realized that he had missed his Art Appreciation 201 class with Ebisu-sensei and groaned. He was so screwed!

He sat up and made his way to his bedside table to pick up his necessities when he realized something. Someone was staring at him. That someone was Sasuke and Naruto blushed deeply.

"Dobe…" – Sasuke said exasperated.

Naruto ducked his head a little to the side and flinched when that movement proved too much for his headache.

Sasuke knelt next to him on his knees, threading his fingers lightly through his blond hair to assuage the pain of the hangover a bit. Naruto blushed even further, knowing this caress was too intimate and too caring for it to be real, but at the same time he wondered what was wrong with his friend, for he was sure he wasn't asleep and dreaming; but awake and confused at his friend's actions.

"Sasuke?" – He asked softly.

Sasuke did not jerk away as he could have done before.

"Promise me Naruto that you won't drink ever again, at least not without being in my company."

Naruto agreed and felt his friend hug him.

There was something different about this though. Naruto was sure that he was deeply in love with Sasuke, but these feelings of lust that curled upon his gut had never been present whenever Sasuke hugged him. Their hugs were always friendly and innocent. Now he felt every contour of Sasuke's body next to his. Was aware of how thin his pajamas were and how his heart thundered in his rib cage in response to Sasuke's petting.

Sasuke – for his part – also felt that the innocence between them had vanished the night he had taken Naruto's penis into his hands. And even though his friend didn't know of that incident, it was real. He knew of Naruto's pretty and soft skin, the soft texture of his hair, and most of all; he couldn't stop himself from feeling his friend up – even though he was sure his friend didn't know he was doing it – when he hugged him to his chest. Nothing had happened the night before at the Café, but Sasuke was too aware of the 'ifs' that centered on his innocent virgin friend.

They stayed that way until Sasuke recovered his wits a little and let him go, commanding Naruto to go get a bath. Naruto – unnaturally submissive – followed his friend's advice and left. Sasuke cradled his face in his hands as the truth smacked him right in the face. Either he was falling hard for Naruto, or he had been denying himself that for a long time. He had to find some professional help.

:-:

Umino Iruka was the school's _only_ gay shrink. There were plenty of gay men working as teachers, but only some of them were open about it.

Uchiha Sasuke was not known to anyone at the school as gay, but Iruka knew the minute the young man walked in that he had serious issues to talk about.

"So… let's start with something easy… what is your name?" – He asked in his sensible tone of voice.

"Uhm. Uchiha Sasuke, I'm nineteen years old and my major is still undecided. Look, I've been told you're the only gay shrink around and I've been dealing with some heavy duty shitty stuff lately that I want to settle in my mind before I go insane, so can we skip the pleasantries please?" – Sasuke asked looking nervous and embarrassed.

Iruka groaned inwardly.

"Ok, then what is it that is bothering you? Your sexuality?"

Sasuke sputtered.

"I… I don't like boys." – He stuttered out in the end.

Iruka looked at him with the 'You're shitting me, right? Then what the hell are you here for?' look and Sasuke quivered before looking to the side and blushingly admitted the truth.

"I have a friend." – He said as a start.

Iruka rolled his eyes thinking Sasuke was going to pull the 'I have a friend' and then ask advice for his 'friend'.

"His name is Naruto and we've been pretty good friends for a long long time. Problem is that, he was the local pretty boy at our hometown. His mom used to dress him up as a girl and when everyone found out he wasn't a girl; the girls immediately turned away from him."

Iruka suddenly began to understand a little of what Sasuke was going at.

"He is a good friend, but is very shy. So when he said he had decided to go to university with me, I thought he'd be able to find a girl for himself, a fresh new start sort of deal. It didn't happen that way. The other day he arrived to our dorm room and seemed to be so hot… he took his clothes off and slept on the bed in the nude. That has never happened before. Naruto is so damn shy and naïve that he usually sleeps in children themed pajamas and blushes whenever he sees someone half-naked. By the Gods, when I arrived late that night, drunk and out of my wits and I saw him for the first time naked, I lost it."

Iruka was concerned by this point, not only the story seemed to be causing Sasuke-san some pain but it was starting to turn him on a bit – that had never happened before.

"Go on…" – He said prompting Sasuke to go on with his story telling.

"I have never seen Naruto naked. Ever. He always hid himself from me. I didn't know he had no pubic hair; there was no sort of evidence that he had any puberty hair in his whole cute and lean body and the only evidence that he's grown a bit is his growth spurt and the fact that his penis is larger… God! I touched him. He was half-aroused, dreaming god knows what and suddenly I grabbed him and molested him. Now I can't get the thought out of my head. I've been with girls before and have never seen a guy that way, but with Naruto… Sensei what do I do?" – He said in a rush looking quite panicked and concerned.

It took Iruka awhile before he could connect the dots.

"You love him."

"Yes damn it. I love him. We've been together for a long long time! I've just never thought I'd be _in _love with him, sensei!" – Sasuke cried out.

Iruka looked pensive for a second and then asked…

"What does Naruto-san act like when around you?"

Sasuke looked pensive for a moment recalling that day when he had gone to find him in one of his art classes.

"He seems to genuinely like to be around me. Sometimes he seems to be perpetually shy of asking me anything… I… I don't know what to do."

Iruka pondered about this before thinking about a sensible course of action.

"Well, okay. Let's see how far your feelings go for him, okay?"

At Sasuke's nod, Iruka continues: "Lie back on the chair and relax a little. Listen to the soothing tone of my voice. Are you set? Okay, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and you have to answer truthfully to the best point of your ability. Good. First question… what do you like about Naruto?"

:-:

By the time Sasuke had finished with all the questions Iruka threw at him, he was shocked to learn he really loved his dobe. He just didn't know how to take it. Iruka gave him a pamphlet to read and directed him to the door, saying he'd see him the next week.

When he reached his dorm room, he was shocked to see Naruto wearing a tiny towel around his waist looking like a sexy nymph, wet and ready to be taken. He closed the door none too gently without meaning to and was graced with Naruto's blush in full bloom.

"S-Sasuke… I… I didn't know you'd be coming in early." – He heard Naruto stutter as he tried to cover himself some more with the tiny towel.

He smirked a little and decided to play with Naruto for awhile to see how his friend could react. He was honestly not doing this to spite and hurt his friend, but to see how Naruto reacted to him. It didn't quite work out that way. In the end, he had to listen to Naruto cry himself to sleep and ignore the pang that went through his heart at the idea that his seemingly innocent friend hadn't liked how he had cupped one of his naked ass cheeks and felt him up. He hadn't meant to laugh when he had admitted he had already seen him naked. The terror in Naruto's eyes nearly did him in, and when his friend had sobbed in front of him, Sasuke had let go and walked away.

He wanted to comfort his friend, but knew that if he so much as touched Naruto, he'd be doing a whole lot worse than just comforting. He sighed in regret as he turned away.

– Part Two –

Monday morning rolled up grey. The weather showed promise of a lot of rain and Naruto wanted deeply to stay in bed. But he was kind of moody and a moody Naruto does things that Sasuke didn't like him to do. Like shy away from his friend's touch.

He loved Sasuke, he really did. But so far, Sasuke had been caring towards him; not making fun of him by cupping one ass-cheek from underneath his towel… Naruto had panicked. He felt extremely hot and bothered, not unlike that time with the redhead… he blushed so hard when he remembered that, that he was afraid everyone around him could guess what was wrong with him.

"Oi!" – A voice from behind him called out.

He turned around finally noticing it was Shikamaru-san from Friday's class.

"Ah! Shikamaru-san! Ohayo!" – He called out, but he was still moody over Sasuke's teasing that his salute was not as warm as he had intended it to be.

Shikamaru frowned when he finally reached him.

"What's the matter?" – He asked wondering what was wrong with him.

"Uh… nothing! There is nothing wrong with me. Nothing at all!" – Naruto said trying to deny his confusing feelings.

Shikamaru shrugged for a second and then sighed…

"You look like you need a break. Let's go see my friend Ino." – Shikamaru said already grabbing onto Naruto's arm and leading him away from where his path had been heading to.

"Ah! No… I have a class with Ebisu-sensei in five minutes! If I miss that class I don't know how I'll be able to deal with him for the rest of the year! Shikamaru-san… I'm sorry, but—" – Naruto knew he was babbling, but being this worried about that class… he had heard how bad that man was with students who came on and off to class and he didn't want to fail!

Shikamaru stopped and looked at Naruto's panicked eyes.

"You have class with Ebisu? Don't worry about him, I've got you covered. In fact, I know someone who will look after that for you, but you really do need a break. So let's go." – He said instead and almost led him by his arm like a puppy who refused to go to the vet.

:-:

Kurenai was shocked to see Shikamaru and a blond haired young man standing right in front of her.

"Shikamaru! What a lovely surprise?! But aren't you supposed to be in class right this minute?"

"Mendokusei, the teacher I have this year is Ebisu-sensei. I only took Art Appreciation 101 this year because okaasan insisted."

Kurenai blinked then smiled as she said: "Don't worry, I'll talk to him about you. But you gotta work for me now, given the fact that I'm short of a bartender in the afternoons."

Shikamaru rubbed a hand on his neck looking to the side in a way Naruto was downright cute. But of course, he would never say so out loud. Men aren't cute. That's what his mother always said.

"You're also lacking in the entertaining department." – He said softly.

Kurenai's smile dwindled down to a frown.

"Well… every other artist is either quirky, troublesome or arrogant. And they all want me to pay them money beyond what the customers tip, and you know I can't really afford that." – She said.

Shikamaru smiled a little and said: "Well… what if I tell you that the person standing right next to me is going to work here too?"

"Work here too?" – Both Naruto and Kurenai said at the same time.

"Come and talk to me in my office about that Shikamaru."

Shikamaru smirked knowing he had this bagged already. He turned towards Naruto and said: "Can you sit over there by the couch? Ino will come by quickly enough. She's a blond just like you, so she'll probably be intrigued enough to talk to you. I'll be right back."

Naruto went over and sat. Deciding he had nothing better to do, he unsnapped his backpack's knot and took out his books for the one class he took online and that was math. The teacher was a criminal with the numbers, but Naruto chose that particular teacher because people said he was the best of the best. While he was travailing through some statistics problems, he had even ignored all that were around him, including the fact that he was being stared at by three people: the girl Shikamaru had said was always intrigued by men with blond hair like hers, Kurenai and Shikamaru from the door of the manager's office.

"I told you. He really is special."

"Special enough to fuck? I don't want more trouble like that, Shikamaru. Kin was enough of a trouble as it were."

"No! This isn't like that! He's special – not because I want to fuck him, but because he is damn good at drawing _and _painting! I saw that he was part of Shiranui-sensei's class and browsed through a couple of his works and they're damn good! I'll show you."

Kurenai saw the photos that Shikamaru carried on his cell phone and was impressed. Shikamaru was right in the part where the young man sitting on the couch was a true artist; he had talent almost on par with her late husband's Sarutobi Asuma.

"Ok. What do you want me to do?"

"He needs to get some self-confidence. But Ebisu-sensei is cruel and he already has missed a class with him – due partly to me and Kakashi-sensei – so could you just speak on his behalf?"

Kurenai thought about it and said: "Ok. I can do that. But could you _please _make him change his wardrobe? He looks too much of a goody two shoes for this place."

"I'm already on it." – Shikamaru solemnly said hiding a smile from her although he knew she was already aware.

:-:

Ino finally decided to get over to the cutie with the blue eyes and see if he was available when Shikamaru found her by the bar.

"Don't even think about it." – He said in his deep and lazy tone of voice.

If it weren't for the fact that Ino knew Shikamaru liked boys a 60% more than the 40% he offered to women, she would have gone for him.

"Why? He seems like he's single, if his clothing style leaves a lot to be desired."

"He's single, but he's gay."

Ino frowned and said: "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope. I know who he's crushing on right at the minute, in fact."

Ino drooped a little and then said in a slightly cheerful voice: "Tell me I get to change his style, tell me I get to take him to Kankuro's shop!"

"All that you wish for, honey. It's yours." – Shikamaru chuckled as she directed her towards the oblivious young man in question.

"Yes! Have I ever told you that I adore you, Shikamaru?" – She said as she walked over to the other side to sit next to the blond as Shikamaru took the left.

"Naruto. This is my friend Ino I was telling you about." – Shikamaru said in way of a introduction.

Naruto raised his blue eyes to Ino's green and blushed.

Ino smiled wickedly and said: "Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun!"

:-:

As expected, Shikamaru was told to take charge of Naruto's shopping bags. Ino got him everything and anything she set her fancy on, and then off to the changing rooms it was. It was something Naruto was sort of used to because his mother always did this whenever she was in one of her 'girly' moods. He feared the fact that his mother might come over with his fath


End file.
